39 Weeks Pregnant - Am I huge yet?

Adaline is still growing strong in my belly. She is still very active rolling around in side my belly. I have been having a few issues with sleeping but that is to be expected. Cory is suffering because of the sleeplessness but he has been a great trooper.

I finished my last day of work on Wednesday working at ZYTO. I now get to be a full time mommy. Everyone at work was so great. They took me to lunch at Olive Garden and then each person wrote me a personal note on a three by five card. I have really loved working with everyone on the ZYTO team and will miss working with them.

Cory and I worked on the "War Room" and now it is a least accessible for mom to stay in while she is here. We got all of Adaline's clothing washed in the special "Dreft" laundry detergent. We also got the rest of the boxes we have been meaning to get through since our wedding.

38 Weeks - Trying to get over a cold!

It is incredible that I am 38 weeks pregnant. Adaline is getting ready to make her debut into this wild world and Cory and I are so excited. I have been sick with a nasty cold for the past few days and so my very productive plans for the weekend did not come to fruition. I am hoping with Cory’s help I can get all of Adaline’s cloths washed and organized and everything finished in her bedroom from Grandma Kathy’s arrival next week. Mom is coming to stay with me to help with delivery and also to get me back on my feet after. I am so grateful for such a wonderful mother.

I am finishing up my last few days working for pay. It is going to be strange staying home permanently as I am so used to bring in a paycheck. I am excited for the change but there is also some nervousness because I have worked to take care of myself for almost 12 years. Now to get to be one of the lucky ones!, a stay at home mom, I am excited to experience this change in my life. I know I am going to love being a mommy. I have been enjoying every minute of pregnancy. There have been hard moments of illness, discomfort, and fear, but over all I have relished every move that Adaline has made, every indicator that she is healthy and strong.

Cory and I watched a video I had recorded of him the day we found out what we were having. It was so funny to watch Cory talk about seeing Adaline for the first time in the sonogram and how he was so excited to meet her in a couple more months. That was back in October and here we are in March not too long from her due date, just about two weeks, and Cory and I probably more excited and anxious now then we were then.

Our birth class has been really helpful in getting us ready for D-Day. We have been educated on what could happen and what typically happens during delivery. The information our teacher has shared each week has helped Cory and I feel better prepared for delivery. We know that there could be complication with any delivery but we also know what the typical stages of delivery are and what we can probably expects as we work our way through each step in the process. This information will help Cory be a better coach and support to me as I concentrate on getting our beautiful baby into this world. The Brio-Birthing technique is designed to help mother and baby experience a natural child birth. The idea of joining the millions of women before me, who, through the ages of time, have delivered children naturally, I am excited to experience this incredible act.

I know that Adaline’s name sake, both her Great, Great Aunt Adaline, and her grandmother, Helene, will be there helping to get her into this world. I know there will be others there too. Cory’s grandmother Kellersberger and many of the faithful women of our progenitors will be there as well. I truly believe that they will be the attending angels who will help escort Adaline into this world. Just like we are not left alone at the closing of our lives and as we cross over to the other side of the veil, so too are we not alone in coming into this world. The veil is very thin and the Father has incredible mercy so for me to believe that Adaline, Cory, Mom, and I will not be alone is incredibly comforting.

37 Weeks Pregnant - Technically Full Term

 

Well Adaline is now considered a full term baby even if she is born this week instead of in three more weeks. She would be fully developed and able to thrive outside my belly if she were to be born this weekend. Hopefully she will decided to get a little extra baking done inside me instead of making an early entrance into this world. We will be happy whenever she comes but we do want her to get as much goodness from me as she can before she is born.

We are going to be celebrating Cory’s birthday this weekend and I have a few special plans for him. He will be turning a whopping 26 year old, wow! He is still a young sexy buck, aren’t I lucky J. One of the surprises I have arranged for Cory is his favorite cheese cake. I had to have it shipped to me from New York but it was not that expensive and he is going to be really surprised. His mother’s birthday is the day before his and so we are going to take her lunch tomorrow to celebrate her birthday and then I will be treating Cory to dinner that night for his. On Sunday we will eat Red Velvet cake, Cory’s mom’s favorite, and celebrating both of their birthdays as a family on Sunday.

I splurged a bit as new mommy this week and bought two tutus for Adaline to wear. One is pink and white and one is purple and white. She is going to look so cute in her pictures. I can’t wait to dress her up. I know that I might burn myself out with Adaline on the dress up and cuteness but I am just so excited to have my own personal baby doll. I have head bands and flowers that I will get to coordinate with her outfits and I know in many ways I will go over the top with her but it is going to be so much fun doing it J.

We are looking forward to mom’s arrival. She is going to be coming in a few weeks once I give her the news I am in labor or if I make it to my delivery date she will get here to Orem on March 15. There are some projects that we are going to work on if we have the time before delivery and if not then afterward.

Cory is really relieved that mom will be here for the birth. We have been taking a birth class and he feels confident on what he is learning about delivery and his part in it, but he is also really glad mom with be there with her experience and confidence. He knows that she has experience going natural during birth and hopes that will help us achieve our goal of a non-medicated, non-surgical delivery. With neither of us knowing exactly what to expect, her presences will help give both of us feel more confidence that we can do this. Thank heavens for moms!

Professional Pregnancy Pictures

Cory and I modelled for a photographer, Dan Hanson, who gave us copy rights to print pictures for Adaline's memory book. We had a really good time and the best part is our model fee was the free copies of the edits we liked....pretty good deal!

He is also going to take newborn pictures of Adaline for free as well, because he will use the pictures for his website. Cory, Mom, and I will get to help with Adaline's new born pictures and will be able to get some great shots with her, as well.

You have been wondering how big I am well at the very bottom you will see pictures I posted of my belly that Dan took. He wanted belly shots and so there are way more pictures of my belly but my favorites are the ones we took at the very last of the photo shoot with my belly covered. Take a look and tell me what you think.

36 Weeks Pregnant - Smile for the Pictures!

Adaline and I have made it 36 weeks. The final four weeks will be filled with last minute to dos. Adaline is around 6 lbs and about 20 inches long according to the website. It will be interesting to see when she is born how close she is to the typical pregnancy. I am measuring in at 36 cm, right on schedule and Cory and I are seeing the doctor each week until delivery. We got the great news that I am dilated all of ½ centimeter. Wow only 4 weeks and 9 ½ centimeters to go J but we are happy to hear that all is well with the baby and me.

Cory and I have a long list of to dos before the baby is born. We have the hospital bag to pack, the car chair to fix into the Explorer, the house to finish, and some final preparations for D-day. We are going to a Pediatric consult on Wednesday with someone we hope is going to be a great doctor for Adaline. Dr. Haskett has worked with Dr. Wise before and said that he is a good doctor. We also got Dr. Wise recommended to us from our birth class instructor.  Cory and I want to be very involved with all the treatments, vaccines, and standard procedures that Adaline will need to go through in the next few years and Dr. Wise is one who works with the parents on making the right choices for them.

Cory will be looking for a job in his field of study starting in April and since we don’t know how long it will take him to find a job we are going to renew our contract at our current place for another year. The nice thing with our location and home is the price is so reasonable that I don’t think Cory and I will find it hard to sell our contract if he does get a job very quickly and we need to move. With the baby just coming, staying settle for first month or two of her being born will allow me time to heal and then get the house ready to move if we need to pack everything up.

Adaline has started to slow down in movement. That is normal for this time in pregnancy because she is getting a little crunched for space and so I feel her rolling back and forth a little bit. She also seems to get the hiccups every couple of days. It is funny to feel that rhythmic thump, thump, thump. I hope they don’t hurt her too much. Cory is really good at feeling her movement. There have been a few times I have worried about her because I have not felt her move all day but once I lay down and Cory puts his hand on my tummy, he is able to feel her movement. Probably because he is not as anxious as I am.

I will be modeling for a photographer on Sunday who wanted a pregnant model for photos for his website. I saw the offer on Craigslist and talked with Cory about it. Once I contacted the photographer I asked if he would be comfortable with taking some picture of Cory and I and he stated he would be happy too. My model fee will be copies and rights to print the best shots. It’s really kind of nice because we are going to be able to get some really great pre-delivery shots of the two of us and also of me that we can post for everyone to see but also to put in Adaline’s memory book.  The best thing is that it won’t cost us anything but the printing costs of the photos at Wal-mart.  

35 Weeks Pregnant - Happy 30th Birthday, Mommy!

Adaline is continuing to gain weight as the weeks pass in preparation for her delivery date. I have grown about 1 cm in my belly which is exactly on schedule for being 35 weeks pregnant. Sleep is becoming more precious because I am struggling sometimes to find a comfortable position to get into. Tossing and turning is not helping Cory, either, he checks on me throughout the night and so both of us are a little tired but that is the name of game in becoming new parents J.

This past week was my birthday. I turned 30 years old and had a wonderful birthday. Cory bought me a beautiful watch and also surprised me with night in Salt Lake at the Little America Hotel. We ordered room services for dinner with a voucher he received with the purchase of the room and we just enjoyed ourselves for the evening in Salt Lake. Then Sunday we had ice cream cake with Cory’s family to celebrate my birthday.

Cory also surprised me with a beautiful ring to wear while pregnant. I have been unable to wear my wedding rings because my fingers are a little swollen. It is a simple band with little rubies and small cubic zirconium that he got from Amazon but is really is quite beautiful and I love it. I am able to wear it because it is a size larger than my wedding ring.

Getting closer to the delivery date and not fully knowing what to expect there is a little bit of anxiety but there is great excitement too. Cory and I talk last night in bed about becoming new parents. Our biggest hope is that we will teach Adaline who she really is, how important she is to us, that she is a daughter of God, and how important she is to the work of spreading the gospel throughout the world. There was a talk at this last General Conference Session that was given by Sister Elaine S. Dalton, titled “Love Her Mother”. It was funny at the time because we did not know then we were having a little girl yet but as Cory and I sat there and listened to this inspired talk, Cory said to me after that this was the talk he was to hear this General Conference. He had a premonition that we were going to have a little girl and that Heavenly Father was explaining the best way to increase Adaline’s understanding of her place in the world by how Cory treats me. We want her to desire a temple marriage and a gospel centered home. As Cory and I spoke last night we remember this talk and Cory expressed again that Adaline will come to know her value because of how he treats me. We hope that she will see our example and will never accept anything less than a man who will love and cherish her as the daughter of God she is. I think all parents want for their children to be happy. Those of us with testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ know the true path to happiness and we desire nothing less for our children. Hearing the words of prophets, apostles, and servants of the Lord who give us specific instructions on how to help rear our children in the ways of the Lord is incredibly comforting. Cory and I don’t have to figure this thing out on our own. We have the ability to hear and read these great words of counsel. We also have incredible family members who have and are still raising their children in the gospel path. They are able to give us great advise, guidance, and ideas to work with each child, individual, on helping them develop and strengthen their testimony of the gospel.

As Cory and I reflect of over this last year of marriage, as we have grown to together and have strived to have a gospel centered home, we seen areas that we can improve and also strengthens that we might not have noticed before. These reflections will hopefully make us better parents because we are trying to  do the Lord’s will in our lives and keep the gospel and the message of the gospel as a constant center in home. Bridgette has this beautiful plaque in her home that says “Christ is the center of our home”. I really like that. That is something that I want to have in a prominent place in our home. I want our children to see that message and pictures of the Savior and temple in every room of our house. I want them to remember the Lord each day and I know these things will help me remember the Lord every day, too.

34 Weeks Pregnant - It's the final count down!

Adaline could be a whopping 20 inches by now and five beautiful lbs. Need a visual? Hold a five-pound bag of flour in your arms and that about how much she weighs. If you get three flour size bags and stack them on top of each other is how tall she probably is. She will mostly have long fingernails that will have be manicured for the first time just after she is born, beauty tips at 1 day old J

Adaline and I have been trying to find comfortable sleeping positions for night time. We tend to toss and turn throughout the night so bedtime at 9:30 is pretty typical. Waking up at 7:30 is sometime very difficult because I just want to stay in bed and get a little more sleep.

I am measuring at 32 ½ cm a little smaller than my last measurement at the doctors but pretty much right on track for her delivery date. I keep waiting for the stories to come true where I see her foot and it is distinctive as she pushes on my belly, but when she moves I can feel it and Cory can see it but it not alienish like many of the stories I have heard from other people.

I think I have lots of water inside my belly for her to move around in and that is why I don’t see hands and feet.  There are moments that I think I feel her back pressing out of my belly and I gently run my fingers over her, up and down. She tends to not move while I do this. I wonder how much she can feel of the pressure of my fingers as I drag them up and down her back.

She still loves to move around after I drink chocolate milk. I think she will come out chocolate covered with how much chocolate milk I have drunk over the last 6 months of the pregnancy. Cory loved chocolate milk as a baby and I think Adaline has picked up her chocolate milk gene from him.

Cory and I have been trying to get the house ready for herto come. We spent all day Saturday this last weekend rearranging our bedroom for Adaline’s bassinet-playpen to fit next to our bed. With how we re-arranged everything we actually have more room now in our bedroom than ever before. We also re-arranged the living room so as to open up more space for her playpen to go when I am cooking and working on projects in the living room. We are still working on the “War Room”. We call it the “War Room” because our year supply is located in there along with everything we don’t want to deal with at the moment. Kind of looks like World War III happened in there. We are slowly working on it, going through a few boxes each week but we are going to make a more concentrated effort because we have taken care of our bedroom and living room now, so the War Room is all that is left.

They say that mommy starts to feel the nesting syndrome about now and I must admit I love going through things and having so much space when I get rid of junk that I have dragged around with me for the last 12 years. With our bedroom so organized and open I can’t wait for the War Room to look the same. When we finished the living room it made our house feel so much bigger.

I am looking forward to my mom, Grandma Kathy, coming to help Cory and I with the birth and post delivery. She is going to get here to Utah hopefully a few days before I go into labor so we can work on some fun sewing projects. If you go to the mall, the things I want to make cost around $20.00 to $50.00 for each of the items and I want about 5, that’s a lot of money. With the patterns I printed off line for free, we are going to be able to make each of the items I want and I will probably only have to spend about $15.00 total for fabric and thread, now that is savings.